FOOD STAMP "WILD ANIMALS"? NO.

Barry ZeVan

Continuously in the professional broadcasting and entertainment industry since age 5, Barry is a Telly Award-winning and three-time Emmy-nominated producer, writer, director, talent and production designer, locally, nationally and internationally. He garnered the highest local ratings in U.S. television broadcasting history as “Barry ZeVan, The Weatherman” in Minneapolis-St. Paul in the mid-1970s. His Star Tribune weekly webcasts often reflect his unusually remarkable life experiences with colleagues and friends who are, and were, global leaders in the entertainment and political arenas.

resize text
subscribe via RSS

FOOD STAMP "WILD ANIMALS"? NO.

Posted by: Barry ZeVan Updated: March 8, 2012 - 3:04 PM

3
comments
print

Tweet
share

email
Email share

your name

your email

recipients email

+ add a comment add a comment

In my opinion, the recent public comment by one of our Minnesota state legislators comparing those who receive food stamps with wild animals dependent on nature and others to take care of their survival needs is insulting, at best, to those who find themselves in need. If that legislator thinks it's enjoyable for people who WANT to work nearly starve each day because of little or no income, I think the legislator should have done her homework.

These are horrendous times for almost everyone on every rung of today's employment (or unemployment) ladder. I've been one of those, more times in my life than not, who would have been happy to wash dishes, clean toilets or do any basic task in order to simply put my own food on the table. To have to depend on FOOD stamps because no one will hire a person in these difficult economic times depletes any breadwinner's self-esteem and confidence in the future.

I'll bet 99.9 percent of all those currently dependent on ANY sort of welfare would jump at a chance to earn enough of a living to provide for their own sustenance, and the sustenance and well-being of their spouses and/or children, if applicable.

There have been two or three times in MY life when I had hardly anything to eat for weeks at a time. Those were in times of suppressed economies, too, and it was no fun. I've often driven taxi cabs (even here in the Twin Cities), pumped gas, worked in a lumber mill and cleaned fish AND dishes in a restaurant, never letting on to anyone that times were bad. During one taxicab shift here, I drove for 20 hours and made ten dollars. I wouldn't recommend it as the best weight-loss program, but rather than play the sympathy card or violin here, suffice it to say most people suffering today find themselves in survival mode via no faults of their own, and would hope to be gainfully employed with heads held high...higher than "wild animals".

Wild animals? I think not. Human beings who deserve more than a modicum of dignity and respect, rather than lowest-common-denominator characterizations? In my opinion, a resounding "Yes".